Driving mechanism



2 SHEETSTBHEET .lf

INVENTOR uar'i H 00m/m.

ATTORNEY WITNESSES:

Feb, 18, 1923.

' SfH. COWIN.

DRIVING MECHANISM. ORIGINAL FILED ram/13.1918.l

2 SHEETS-'SHEET 2 m AJ www WITNEVSSES: fffam INVENTOR filari 60m/22.

ATTORNEY f use on electric locomotives; -f

Patented Pelo.. i3, i923..

STUART n. cowiN, or nnenwoon Plinn, HOUSE ELECTRIC a MANUFACTURING VANIA.

naar

rENNsYLvANie, Assienoia To wnsriive- COMPANY, il eoitronarioiv or PENNSYL- nniviive MECHANISM.

Application filed May 13, 1918, Serial No. 234,261. Renewed March 30, 1920. Serial No. 370,048.`

To @ZZ-whom-z' may concern:

Be it known that l, STUART l-l. Cowima citizen of the United States, and a resident of Edgewood Park, in the county ot VAelllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented'l a. new and usei'ul lniprovement in Driving Mechanisms, of which lthe follow` through a series of helical springs 15 which in is a specification. j

ily invention relates to driving mechanisms` and more particularly to resilient drivin@ mechanisms especially adapted forV In driving mechanisms for electric-lood motives, it is a common practice to opera tively connect the electric propelling motors to the driving wheels by `reduction gearings comprising pinions on opposite ends oifthe motor armature shafts and cooperating flexible gears yieldingly connectedto the driving wheels. The flexiblegear consists of a rim connected to a hub by interfittiiig spaced radial lugs having helical springs in the spaces between the lugs. Laterally exftending arms on the hubhave supports or seatsiiior springs that bear against seats on the driving wheels.

gears adjacent the driving wheels.. Either.

or each of the rims is freely movable on its hub. 'Thus, each pinion drives through a` set of springs, and a substantially equal division or" the load is obtained with a smaller number of springs., 1' f i The above and other objects and the novel features of the invention will `be apparent from. the following description, takeny in connection with the drawinglin which Figure l is an end view, partly in section, of a locomotive-driving mechanism embodying my invention; F ig. 2 is a side elevation of' the saine; Fig. 3 is an end elevation similar to Fig. l, but showing-a modificatiomand Such an arrangement provides a balanced driving mechanism',`

v Figs. l and 5'are perspective lviews of por-1 j,

tions of the rim and the hub, respectively.

Referring to Figs. l rand 2, l0 and l1 ydesignate a lpair oilocomotive driving wheels secured to an axle12.V The spokes 13 of thedriving wheels are provided with seats 14e against which the drivingeifort iseXerted bear againstthe seats le and also against seats lat the outer-ends of arms` 17 that tend' laterally from, and are integral with,

ally extending arms that correspond, in n'uin-H ber and position, to the springs thatl bear spokes. 1

'project into .the lspaces between the-'spolresl 13 of the driving wheels. Thearms 17 ex-V or yrigidly fastened to, they toothed rims lS,

against the seats on the driving wheel *In order that the rimlSshalli not betoo weak to sust-ain the vstrains on the arms 17 and to provide easy means of assembly,-said arms are mounted onwider portions of the rim formed by inwardly projecting radial:

lugs 19 that are separated by spaces 20,;the

lugs i9 and yspaces 20- being of su'iiicienty spaces 21and radial lugsj22, respectively,` `onthe hub member ,28. rlhe lugs" 19 of the rim consist of parallel flanges 24: and 25v tongues or flanges 27 that project into the` spaces 26 when the hub and rim' members are `assembled by a relativerotative move.

ment after the lugs 19 and 2,2 have been" itted` into the-spaces'2land 20, respectively.

The "flanges 24C and 25 may be of the samev `length but, as shown, are of di'erent lengths sol radially, and bearing shoulders orsupports` 28 and 29 therefor'fare provided on` oppo site `sides of the langes27 of the hub.-` The edge 30 of the iiangeZT-also forms a -bear- Y.

ing support thatengages'the bottom Slot the'` groove formed bythe space` 26., It will thus be seen that the bearingsuraces be` tween the prim and the hub supporting the f were to be had nearer theV axiso'the gear.

The relative circumferential 'movement is usually not more than an inch.l The hubs ioo y rim movable relatively to the hub or center.

23 ofthe gears are secured to the ends of a quill shaft 32 that surrounds the axle 12 and is mounted infbearings (not shown) in the frame of a propelling motor 33 that is located between the gears 18-23..

The propelling motor comprises an armature 34 and a shaft 35 that has p'inions 36 secured to the ends thereof on opposite sides of the armature. The pinions 36 mesh with the teeth 37 on the peripheries of the rims 18 and,being connected to the same shaft, tend to exert :equal driving efforts on the gears. However, under certain conditions,

the load on the driving wheels 10and 11` becomes'unequal and would have an undesirable effect on the pinions, gears andmotor shaft, if it were not for the interposed springs 15 and relatively movable rims 18. These operative connections between the wheels 10 and 11 and the corresponding pinions 36 serve to divide vthe load equally between the "pinions 1n Fig. 1, the gears connected ing wheels are alike, which is desirable for manufacturing reasons, and also in case repairs are' needed. ln this structure, one of the rims is preferably secured to its hub, or

provided with some means for limiting the relative circumferential movements of the hub and rim, as by means of one or more stops. ln Fig. 3, all the parte are similar tov those shownin Fig. 1 except the gear wheel 181 that is connected to the driving wheel 11. rllhe arms 171 are similar, in all respects, tothe arms 17 and are mounted on the gear 181 but the rim of the latter is not movable relatively7 to the hub, both hub and rim being rotatable as a unit. This driving mechanismrk also serves .to divide the load equally between the pinions 361 .that mesh with the gear wheels 18 and 181 but the structure shown in Fig. 1 is preferable from a manufacturing and repair standpoint.

1 claim as my'invention: v

1. 1n a driving mechanism, the combina- 'f tion with a driving shaft and driving members mounted thereon, of a driven shaft and driven members mounted thereon, and means for operatively'connecting said driving and driven'members, respectively, and for maintaining a substantially-equal division of load vbetween saidA driving members, said means comprising gears, one of said gears having a thereof, laterally extending arms on said movable rim,"and laterally 'extending arms:

on the other of said gears. i

2. 1n a driving mechanism, the combination with a driving shaft and driving mem- 'bers thereon, of a` driven shaft and driven members thereon, and means for operatively connecting saiddrivmg and driven members,

respectivel 1, and for .maintaining a substantially equal division of load between said drivingl members, said means comprising to the driv- 3. A driving mechanism comprising diiv' ing members having coaxial hubs rotatable together about the same axis, and rims mounted on said hubs, one of said rims being movable circumferentially of the hub upon which it is mounted and having laterally eX- tending arms thereon, and corresponding laterally extending arms on the other driving member.

part gear consisting of a hub and a rim having interfitting laterally interlocled portions that are relatively movable circumferentially, and laterally extending arms on the rim, said arms having spring seats thereon.

5. A two-part driving member comprising a hubi and a rim, said parts having spaced radial interfitting lugs provided with bearing surfaces'whereby the rim is -slidably supported by the hub. and is free to move lugs, and laterally extending arms secured to the rim and provided with spring seatsY adjacent the outer ends thereof.-

7. 1n a driving mechanism, the combina-` tion with a driving shaft and driving members mounted thereon, of a` driven shaft and driven members mounted thereon, a quill shaft surrounding said drivei'i shaftbetween said driven members, and means on said quill shaft for operatively connecting said driving and driven members, respectively, and for maintaining a substantially equal division of load between said driving members, said means comprising hubs secured to the quill shaft, rims carried by'said hubs, one 'of said rims being movable circumferentially a distance relatively to the hub' upon which it is mounted, laterally extending arms carried by said rimsand having spring seatsat their outer ends, and springs interposed between the spring seats'I on said arms and spring seats -on said driven members.

Snln a driving mechanism, the combination with an electric motorliaving an armature shaftof pinions mounted on the armature shaft on opposite sides of the armature,v

1 ,soL 4. A driving member comprising a twoa driven axle, Wheels on said axle, and means for operatively connecting said pinions to said Wheels and for maintaining a substantially equal division of load between said pinions, said means comprising gears having rims meshing with said pinions and provided with laterally extending arms, and resilient devices between saidvarms and the adjacent Wheels.

9. ln a driving mechanism, the combination With an electric propelling motor having an armature shaft, of pinions mounted on the armature shaft on opposite sidesof the armature, a driven axle, Wheels on said axle, and means for operatively connecting said pinions to said Wheels and for maintaining a substantially equal division of load bet-Ween said-pinions, said means comprising a quill shaft surrounding the axle between the Wheels thereon, gears having hubs secured to said quill shaft adjacent the Wheels of said axle, said gears having toothed rims meshing with said pinions and provided with laterally extending arms adjacent to the Wheels of said axle, said arms having spring seats, and springs interposed between said spring seats and portions ofthe adjacent Wheels.

10. In a driving mechanism, a gear and a Wheel mounted in coi-axial relationship, said gear comprising a hub portion and a relatively movable rim portion, said rim portion being provided with means independent of the hub portion for resiliently driving said Wheel.

l1. A driving mechanism comprising a driving shaft provided With a plurality of driving members, a driven shaft having a plurality of driven members mounted thereon, and means for transmitting energy from said driving to said driven members, said means comprising a plurality of annular members mounted upon a quill surrounding said shaft and each comprising a rim member in engagement with said driving members and resiliently connected to said driven members, one of said rim portions being freely rotatably mounted upon said quill.

l2. A driving mechanism comprising a driving shaft provided with a plurality of member, said rim member being resiliently connected to one of said driven members independently of the hub member.

18. A driving rconnection comprising a driving shaft provided With a plurality of driving gears, a driven shaft provided with a plurality of driven members, a quill surrounding said driven shaft and provided with gears meshing With said. driving gears and in resilient driving engagement With said driven members, the gears carried by the quill being relatively freely movable.

lil. ln a driving mechanism, the combina-` y tion with a driving shaft and driving members mounted thereon, of a driven shaft and driven members mounted thereon, land means for operatively connectingv said driving and said driven members, respectively, and for maintaining a substantially equal division of load between said driving members, said means comprising gears having rims, one of which is freely movable relative to the hub or center thereof, and means. for resiliently connecting said rims to said driven members.

ln testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 30th day of April,

srminr n. co-vvnv.v 

